OECD/ITF Joint Transport Research Centre Discussion Papers
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- Is continued by :
- International Transport Forum Discussion Papers
The International Transport Forum at the OECD is an intergovernmental organisation with 52 member countries. It acts as a strategic think tank for transport policy and organizes an annual summit of ministers. Our work is underpinned by economic research, statistics collection and policy analysis, often undertaken in collaboration with many of the world's leading research figures in academia, business and government. This series of Discussion Papers is intended to disseminate the International Transport Forum’s research findings rapidly among specialists in the field concerned.
- ISSN: 20708270 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/20708270
Recent Evolution of Research into the Wider Economic Benefits of Transport Infrastructure Investments
The debate on whether there are wider economic benefits from transport infrastructure
investments continues to cause debate and controversy. This debate occurs both between analysts
seeking to find a robust method for identifying and measuring the size of such benefits and between
policy makers seeking to justify or refute the need for a particular investment. It is timely to review
progress on arriving at a consensus view of the contribution of infrastructure to the wider economy
which is consistent with best practice in appraisal. This paper will review progress and try to bring out
some common themes for discussion.
The main aim of this paper is to bring together the various alternative methodological approaches
to this problem which differs not just in the detail of the analysis, but more significantly in the scale at
which the analysis is undertaken. It is argued that it is of particular importance to understand the way
in which changes in the provision of transport affect microeconomic decisions, including those within
firms and households, and to understand the operation of markets as well as to model the resultant
flows and their macroeconomic consequences.
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